Review Huawei P10 Plus: comparison with Huawei P9 Plus

We decided to make a review of Huawei P10 Plus in comparison with the previous flagship P9 Plus. Such way you can understand what has changed with respect to the previous device and what appeared interesting.

Huawei P10 Plus: Design

I would like to start with the fact that Huawei P9 Plus I have been using for about a year, so I know all its positive and negative points. For me, the design of P9 Plus is almost perfect: a strict appearance, not too sloping corners, thin polished chamfers, a thin body, a lack of bulging elements and so on. An important factor is the ergonomics of design.

In P9 Plus for me it is at a high level: the device is perfectly in the hand, does not slip, even when the hands are wet. During the use of P9 Plus he visited both the rain and the shower (accidentally), and fell a few times in the snowdrifts in the winter, and several times shyakalsya on the floor – all at all. Separately, I would like to say about the oleophobic coating: it is still in excellent condition, prints are invisible, and the finger still glides easily.

As for Huawei P10 Plus, the changes in appearance became somewhat unexpected for me. The fact is that Huawei always tries to adhere to a certain recognizable style, and in the case of Huawei P10 Plus we got, no matter how trite, the next Apple iPhone: the same rounded edges, the location of the antennas, the appearance of a touch button and a fingerprint scanner on the front Panels and the like. In my subjective opinion, this is a step back, not forward, or a banal trampling on the spot.

Dimensions. Each new device of different companies becomes thinner, smaller, lighter. If we consider Huawei P10 Plus in comparison with P9 Plus, then notice that the novelty has become slightly higher and heavier, though by a millimeter already:

P9 Plus: 152.3 x 75.3 x 6.98 mm, weight 162 grams

P10 Plus: 153.5 x 74.2 x 6.98 mm, weight 165 grams

You will fairly say that, they say, the difference is not large, all these grams or millimeters are an error. However, tactile Huawei P10 Plus seems, strangely enough, wider, thicker and longer. However, it became easier to put the novelty in your pockets because of the heavily smoothed corners.

After reviewing P10 Eldar Murtazin, it became known that Huawei used the film on the screen in order to hide the fact of the absence of oleophobic coverage (it sounds rude, but in fact it does). Believe in this is not very desirable, because the device is expensive, and the absence of a layer is a strange step on the part of the company, because even in budget gadgets, “oleophobic” is.

Strange, but on Huawei P10 Plus was a film. Taking it off, also with great surprise found the absence of a layer: the display is instantly covered with prints, a thick coating forms, which is difficult to remove. “It helps” in this complete lamination of the matrix, that is, it merges with the front panel (in the case of the apparatus of black color), and the traces become even more noticeable. The glass protecting the display in Huawei P10 Plus is made by Corning – Gorilla Glass of the fifth generation.

The frame of the screen. The P9 Plus has 15 mm on top, Huawei P10 Plus has 16 mm; At P9 Plus from below – 15 mm, at Huawei P10 Plus – 17 mm; The P9 Plus has 3.5 mm on the right and left, and the P10 has a slightly thinner – about 3 mm. That is, and here the new model is not all perfect.

The metal case Huawei P10 Plus has become familiar in many other models. In the same P9 Plus, it had a certain texture under the unpolished metal, which differed from the swarm of other smartphones and played nicely in the light.

The arrangement of the elements remains the same.

On the front panel on top – the indicator of missing events, sensors, camera with autofocus, speech speaker. The speaker is loud, the timbre is pleasant. A similar speaker is also in P9 Plus.

Under the display there was a touch button and simultaneously a fingerprint sensor. The button is not mechanical. It performs a number of other functions: the output of “Home”, “Back”, the launch of the list of applications. In the settings, it’s easy to choose whether to use either the center button or the on-screen buttons. After a couple of days “yuza” of the central button came to the conclusion that personally for me it is uncomfortable. I think the point is that it does not have any vibro-feedback when you briefly press “Back”: that is, it is not pressed (mechanically), and there is no vibration-you do not feel the response of the system. Return is present only with long-term retention of “Home”.

At the bottom end – 3.5 mm, USB-C, microphone and handsfree speaker. On the right is the power button in the red frame, as in the P9 Plus, just above – the volume rocker key. On the left is a metal slot for two nano-SIM or one nano-SIM and a microSD memory card. Top are the second microphone and the IR transmitter. On the reverse side, there is still a glass insert, into which two cameras, a flash, a laser focusing module and the inscription “Leica Summilux-H 1: 1.8 / 27 ASPH” are inscribed (in P9 Plus – “Leica Summarit 1: 2.2 / 27 ASPH” ).

Huawei P10 Plus: Display

This device uses a screen whose diagonal is 5.5 inches. There is an anti-reflective coating, quite effective.

The resolution of the Huawei P10 Plus display from Huawei is 2K, that is 2560 x 1440 pixels, the aspect ratio is 16: 9, the density is 534 pixels per inch. Matrix of IPS. Let me remind you that in P9 Plus resolution is FullHD, and the matrix is ​​made using AMOLED technology.

The maximum brightness of the white color is 500 cd / m2, while the P9 Plus has 400 cd / m2. The contrast of the Huawei P10 Plus screen is 1000: 1, the contrast of P9 Plus is 10,000: 1.

Viewing angles of the Huawei P10 Plus screen are maximal, under certain inclinations the picture slightly loses contrast. The picture leaves in warm or reddish shades. If you compare the Huawei P10 Plus and P9 Plus displays, I would prefer the latter, because the image looks more saturated, the black color is as deep as possible, the contrast is higher. However, IPS or AMOLED – a matter of taste. In terms of clarity, there is no difference (visually), despite the fact that P9 Plus uses AMOLED with PenTile.

Huawei P10 Plus: Battery

In my mode of operation, the gadget functioned for 24 hours: an hour of calls, constant synchronization with Wi-Fi (every day from 9.00 to 01.00, twitter, mail, Skype, wyspapp), LTE. The glow of the screen in this mode is 3-3.5 hours. Playing video at maximum brightness (with Wi-Fi on) is about 7.5 hours, games are about 5 hours.

Huawei P9 Plus results are about the same, only the video it “twists” around 10 hours.

In general, with the time of work for the Huawei P10 Plus is not all good, since 3 – 3.5 hours of glowing screen on the car brightness – a little weak. A single-valued plus is an excellent “dream” and low energy consumption in idle time.

Huawei P10 Plus: Memory

The RAM in Huawei P10 Plus can be 4 GB (VKY-L09) or 6 GB (VKY-L29), but only the first version is available in Russia. The internal memory is either 64 GB or 128 GB. Again, depending on the amount of RAM. Speed ​​64 GB Flash-memory – 335 MB / s – read, write – 130 MB / s.

Also there is NFC, the rest is standard for any expensive Android-smartphone: GPS and GLONASS, Wi-Fi b / g / n, Bluetooth 4.2, USB 2.0 with OTG support.

Huawei P10 Plus: Cameras

Huawei P10 Plus uses two main camera modules: black and white at 20 MP, and color – at 12 MP. Lenses SUMMILUX-H with diaphragm f = 1,8. There is laser and phase focusing. Also, Huawei equipped the Huawei P10 Plus with optical stabilization. If we are talking about P9 Plus, then there are two modules of 12 MP, aperture f = 2.2 and no optical stabilization.

The speed of focusing of the P10 Plus camera increased compared to P9 Plus, the white balance was perfect, and remained – an excellent indicator. As for the quality of the picture, it seemed to me that the novelty removes worse than the previous flagship. Below are the crumbs of photos.

Frames shot on the Huawei P10 Plus have a higher contrast, a little less detail (especially noticeable in the photo with a jacket – the texture on P9 Plus is visible). In addition, the Huawei P10 Plus camera is more “noisy” with artifacts. By the way, if you look at the ISO values ​​and shutter speeds, you will notice that P9 Plus puts more values, and Huawei P10 Plus – less due to optical stabilization, however, as you already understood, there is no great sense from it.

The front camera was certified by Leica (8 MP, aperture f = 1.9). The focus became faster, the photos are good. The viewing angle became smaller compared to P9 Plus, the backlight perceives worse (strong light). Next, I will say a strange phrase, but it was also noticed: I liked the SELFI more precisely on P9 Plus – the faces turned out to be more pleasant (without effects).

As for the blurring of the background, it remains the same from the point of view of the quality and operation of the algorithms. On P9 Plus, I quite often shoot in this mode. Now I do not even quite imagine the cameras without such effect (in the skilful hands you can get extremely successful shots), so I consider buying Apple iPhone 7 Plus, not Samsung S8.

Smartphone Huawei P10 Plus is able to record video in the resolution of 4K 30 fps, FHD 30/60 fps.

Huawei P10 Plus: Performance

As the “heart” of the device Huawei P10 Plus is a chipset of its own production – Huawei Kirin 960: 64-bit, 8 cores (4 cores Cortex A73 with a frequency of 2.4 GHz and 4 cores Cortex A53 with 1.8 GHz frequency), graphics Mali-G71.

The device was fast and bummed, the microlights did not observe. In fact, only the super-budget devices for $50-60, or with the non-optimized OS, are currently hampered. With games about the same situation.

The difference in performance or in other things between Huawei P10 Plus and P9 Plus I did not find, at least, purely visual. Well, in performance tests they can type at least 200 000 “parrots”, nobody but geeks, there is no such thing 🙂 On Huawei P10 Plus I was unable to install Antutu, GeekBench (neither via Google Play, nor manually).

Under load, the body heats up to about 40 degrees.

The device operates on Google Android OS version 7.0 with the proprietary EMUI 5.1 shell. The system will be described in another material, since the smartphone is not commercial, there are not many original functions.

Huawei P10 Plus: Multimedia

The device Huawei P10 Plus equipped with two stereo speakers: one at the bottom, and the second – conversational. They are loud, the sound is clear, the bass is the best in its class! The same parameters were in the P9 Plus.

The music player remains the same. As it seemed to me, the sound improved in comparison with P9 Plus: the bass became deeper, high pure, medium perfectly transmitted.

Conclusion

In the review I wanted to be objective, so I tried to describe the difference between Huawei P10 Plus and P9 Plus as clearly and as accurately as possible, without finding fault with the little things. In the end, in my opinion, Huawei P10 Plus gained less positive points relative to the previous generation: the appearance was simpler, although the screen has a high resolution, but the matrix is ​​not the best and in comparison with AMOLED slightly loses (purely visually), the camera is weaker, not The most successful location and not the most convenient work of the fingerprint scanner, there is no oleophobic coverage, USB versions are not 3.0.

Advantages (relative to P9 Plus):

Multiple colors for the case

Cameras are faster to focus, video is better

Android 7

Better sound in headphones

I am sure that many shortcomings will be fixed in the final software, especially for the camera: its potential with this firmware is “buried” clearly somewhere far away.

Among the competitors – again Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. Now it can be officially bought without any problems from $660. The best offer, unfortunately or fortunately, is not found: IP68, the coolest screen, one of the best cameras, cool appearance and so on. But – yes, he does not have a second camera.

With two “eyes” you can still buy P9 Plus. As an option – Honor 8 Pro. Apple iPhone 7 Plus does not fit the price category.